Cotswold Coach Tour

Date: April 8, 2015 Author: pingucb Comments: (0)

Cotswold Directions by Elliott Brown on flickr

For those with tickets, the Cotswold Coach Tour is tomorrow! The tour will leave St Hilda’s College at 09:30 on Thursday 9th April. Please read on for a full itinerary and a taster of what’s to come.

Itinerary

Our tour takes us through villages and towns where the houses are made from Cotswold stone presenting a mellow, yellow quaint picture of English country life (at least it does when the sun shines, keep your fingers crossed!).

Our first stop will be at Burford, a beautiful town approached over the brow of a hill. Here we will stop so that you can visit the old church, the pretty shops with their goods spilling out onto the main street and get yourself a coffee if needed.

Two shops have offered us a 10% discount today. Lynne’s, is a cute little gift shop and the other is a bookshop , the 7th most magical bookshop in England apparently, The MadHatter Bookshop. Just say you are with the Bookcrossing Coach Party to get your discount.

Our next stop is to drop off a book at one of England’s telephone box libraries in the village of Little Rissington. You will all need to take one book out in order to put one book in!

Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds by Stephen Colebourne on flickr

After this we proceed to the charming village of Bourton-on-the-Water with the River Windrush running through the centre and pretty little bridges to cross over; just right for a water release for those that are so inclined! (you know who you are!). Before we go exploring we will do a children’s book tree together.

After this you are free to look at the many shops, have some lunch (I highly recommend the fish and chips at The Windrush Garden cafe) perhaps visit the Model Village, Birdland or The Motor Museum.

Our next stop will be Snowshill Manor, a National Trust Property with a difference. This lovely old Cotswold Manor House was bought by Charles Wade, an eccentric collector, who filled the house from top to bottom with his collections which range from oriental cabinets to bicycles, from model boats to fire engines; anything that was an example of fine craftsmanship. He himself lived in a small outbuilding which can also be viewed.

After looking around the house you can have a bite to eat at the cafe or browse in the shop or the gardens.

Please note that on some parts of the approach to the house there are steep paths.

N.B If you are a member of the National Trust please can you bring your card with you on this trip.

Our final stop on the way home, if time permits, is to see The Rollwright Stones. These are standing stones dating from the Neolithic period. One large stone, The King Stone, is thought to be a cemetery marker and has railings eminently suitable to hang books on!

So…..for full participation please bring along a children’s book in a bag with string/wool tie for hanging, a book for the telephone box, a themed book in a bag with a tie for hanging on the railing around the King Stone, a double bagged book for a water release, and any other books for wild release.

In addition can all National Trust members please bring along their membership card if you have it to hand. Thank you.

Timings

09:30 Leave St Hilda’s

10:15 – 11:45 Burford

11:55 – 12:25 Little Rissington

Fish & Chip Lunch at Bourton-on-the-Water

12:40 – 14:15 Bourton On The Water

15:00 – 17:30 Snowshill

18:00 – 18:30 Rollright Stones

19:15/19:30 Return to St Hilda’s

General

Useful Information

Date: April 5, 2015 Author: pingucb Comments: (0)

As we approach the weekend of Convention, we have put together the following useful information for attendees.

Our Venue

Address : St Hilda’s College, Cowley Place, OXFORD, OX4 1DY.

GPS Co-Ordinates are N 51 44.926 W 001 14.712

Parking/Travel

There is NO PARKING at St Hilda’s College

YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT

There is a good bus service from the rail station to St Hilda’s

Take bus no’s 4/4A/4B/4C/5/13/200/280/U1/NU1

Ask to be put down at the nearest stop to The Plain, which is a roundabout. Cowley Place is a road that runs off the roundabout.

If coming from the airports by coach ask to be put down at the St Clements Stop and then walk down to The Plain and then to Cowley Place.

If you are going to drive there is a car park at St Clements, just 5 minutes walk from St Hilda’s. You can top the meter up by mobile phone.

St Hilda’s Accommodation

Check in at St Hilda’s is after 12.00 noon on the day of your arrival . Please report to the Porter’s Lodge on arrival.

Your room has bed linen already made up and towels.

There are tea and coffee making facilities in each room.

There is wi-fi available.

When you check out you must do so by 10.00 a.m. on the day of departure. Anyone leaving on Sunday and wishing to partake in Sunday activities may leave their luggage in the JDP as we have hired it all day.

Last Minute Offers

There is one space available on the Friday morning Christchurch Tour. It is in the online shop.

There are still seats available at Qumins Indian Restaurant and The Thai Orchid for the Saturday night meals. Please reserve your seat through the shop.

We look forward to welcoming you to Oxford. See you all soon!

The Oxford Convention Committee

General

Children at Convention

Date: March 29, 2015 Author: pingucb Comments: (0)

Child's book by Jayne on flickr — Child’s book by Jayne on flickr

We are very happy to welcome your children at the 2015 BookCrossing Convention in Oxford. They are the next generation of BookCrossers and we would like BookCrossing to inspire children to read in this modern age.

As an extra special welcome, we would like to make each child a personalised goodie bag. In order for us to do this, please could those who are bringing a child or children let us know their name(s), gender(s), age(s), and any special interests e.g. if they are particularly into fairies, dinosaurs or the colour green.

Although children are most welcome, we would respectfully ask that they are not brought into author talks. The adult poetry session also may not be suitable for little ears!

To specifically cater for your children we will have a small area set aside with Lego, colouring books and games. There will also be a children’s section on the book buffet and a children’s prize in the raffle.

Remember if you are bringing a child to Convention please remember to Contact Us with their details as indicated above.

Events, General

Bookswap Game

Date: March 29, 2015 Author: pingucb Comments: (0)

The bookswap game will take place during Friday evening. Always a great favourite of BookCrossing meet ups and a chance to get to know some of your fellow attendees while gaining new reading material along the way.

To play simply bring along a book that you would recommend and can talk about. Your book should be registered with BookCrossing.

Please wrap your book in the most beautiful, artistic, ingenious way that you possibly know how. There will be prizes for the best wrapped book.

Your book will begin its journey with another BookCrosser playing the game and you will go home with a new book to read.

Authors, General

Ann Granger

Date: March 23, 2015 Author: pingucb Comments: (0)

We are very excited to announce that the final confirmed author for the 2015 BookCrossing Convention in Oxford will be Ann Granger.

Ann is a longstanding author with a career spanning approximately 24 years and more than 30 novels. We are thrilled that she will be attending the BookCrossing Convention in Oxford to present to us about her work. In common with many attendees at the BookCrossing Convention, books have been a passion for Ann from a young age.

Ann writes mystery novels across four distinct series and her latest book ‘The Testimony of a Hanged Man’ was published on 1st January 2015. She is looking forward to meeting the international attendees of the Convention as she is aware that writing crime fiction is writing for a worldwide audience. To find out more about Ann and her novels, visit her website or the dedicated Ann Granger page.